This invention relates generally to vehicle lifts and their controls, as well as to vehicle service systems having such vehicle lifts and controls. The invention is disclosed in conjunction with a unique electronic control which is simple and intuitive to operate, which may be stand alone or networked to other lift controls of the vehicle service system.
Hydraulic and electromechanical (screw) vehicle lifts for raising and lowering vehicles are well known. While the design and configuration of vehicle lifts vary, they all are used primarily for servicing vehicles. They must all have some type of control system to effect the raising and lowering function.
Prior art control systems for hydraulic lifts typically include an electric switch wired in series with the pump motor for raising the lift and a manually operated lowering valve for lowering the lift. Raising and lowering a vehicle into position requires a series of steps. Raising a vehicle with such a hydraulic lift requires depressing the electric switch to raise the vehicle, followed by operating the lowering valve to lower the lift to the locking mechanism. To lower a vehicle beyond the locking mechanism, such as to the ground, the first step is disengagement of the latches, which may be manually, electrically or pneumatically disengaged. The technician must first raise the lift off of the latches, and then either manually disengage the latches, or operate an electric switch or a pneumatic valve through a lever. The technician next operates the lowering valve while continuously operating the electric switch or pneumatic valve to hold the latches disengaged.
The vehicle lift and the area close by the lift, within which the technician moves and works on the vehicle is generally called the lift bay or service bay. To use the vehicle lift properly and safely, the technician needs accurate information regarding the safe operation and maintenance of the lift, such as for example vehicle lift points, operating conditions of the lift, maintenance and trouble shooting information. While working on a vehicle, a technician needs immediate access to current and accurate information regarding operating the lift and servicing the vehicle.
Typically, the information needed by a technician is not available at the lift bay. While the needed information is generally available as manuals or other printed form, such are frequently not kept in the service bay, if kept anywhere at all, and may be outdated. To obtain the information, the technician is thus usually required to leave the bay and locate the information. A technician may be unwilling to leave the bay to locate the information, since this adds another step to the technician's work schedule. A technician works more efficiently if everything needed to work on the vehicle is within the bay. Time spent by a technician away from the bay to obtain information, parts, process paper work, etc. detracts from the efficient performance of service on the vehicle.
Instruction on proper lift use is important for new technicians or new lifts. In such training situations, instruction may not occur at all if much effort is required to learn or teach the use of the lift or to locate the relevant instructional material. Instruction may be given by other technicians who may themselves not be aware of the proper operation of the lift, relying instead on their own understanding of operating the lift.
Proper lift maintenance is also important. Routine maintenance needs to be performed to keep a lift operating properly and safely. Although the need for preventative maintenance arises from the usage of the lift, information on preventative maintenance of lifts is not always readily available. Routine maintenance schedules may be kept independent of the lifts, and the technician does not know while he is in the lift bay whether routine maintenance needs to be performed. Maintenance information regarding repair or trouble shooting information is also typically not kept in the lift bay, resulting in limited or inefficient use of such important resource materials.
Although vehicle lifts define the service bay and are the focal point for servicing a vehicle, vehicle lifts themselves are considered secondary to other equipment used to service a vehicle. The view of the capabilities of a vehicle lift and its control has been limited to the raising and lowering functions, and has not extended to other functions. Thus, vehicle lifts and their controls have not been considered by those skilled in the art for providing access to information needed by the technician, or for collecting and transmitting information relative to operation of the lift of the servicing of the vehicle.
The present inventors have recognized that the overlooked vehicle lift and its control can meet the unrecognized needs for electronic delivery of information to and from the lift bay. The advent by the present invention of providing the ability to access, collect and transmit information by the vehicle lift control in addition to providing the lift functions, creates the new need to be able to revise the new non-lift functions of a lift control completely independent of the lift functions of the lift control. Because vehicle lifts are subject to third party certification, any changes to hardware or software which controls the lift functions, even if the changes only affect the non-lift functions, require recertification.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.